








! IBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

Chap.^PZ? Copyright No._ 

Shelf.>B?3... 

UNITED STATES O^F |llERICA. 




































































































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during f^our Series.—ITol. }j 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 

And Other Stories 


BY j/ 

Anna Burnham Bryant 

-H 


BOSTON 

pilgrim press 

CHICAGO 





46995 

Copyright, 1899, 

By Anna Burnham Bryant. 


TWO COPIES RECEIVED, 



•econo copy. 





CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Papa’s Birthday.' 5 

Katy’s Present . . . . . . 14 

Papa Said So . . . . . . 18 

God’s Bell.20 

A Good Doggie.23 

An Easter Card.26 

Little Grandmother.29 

A Secret.31 

What Pilot Thought.38 

An Outdoor Schoolroom.41 

What Was Lily’s Idol? . ' . . • . . 44 

Faithful Ellie.48 

A Plan for Next Summer . . . . 51- 

Half-way Harry.53 

Benny’s Battlefield.56 

Mamma’s Soldier Boy ..60 

Nellie’s Prayer . . . . . . 62 

By Palace-Car ..69 

A Little Christian.72 


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PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 



N Y B O D V 
might guess 
a week, and 
he could n’t tell then what 
Fanny and Dicky and Dolly 
Dumpling were 
“up to ” ! They 
were getting ready 
for papa’s birthday. 
Papa was a mission¬ 
ary, and a missionary 
has to be away from his 
loved ones a good deal 
of the time, you know. 
However, he was not 
very far off this time — not 
in another country — for he 
had been sent home on a 
kind of a furlough, and had 
‘ easy” home work to do —just lecturing 



6 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


and speaking and asking people to give money 
— before going back to the far-off hard work 
again, away from all his loved ones. Every 
week or two now he came home to spend a 
little while, and the little while I am going to 
tell you about happened right in the time of 
his birthday. 

“ What shall we do to s’prise him ? ” asked 
Fanny. “ Let’s make a real party of it, and 
ask mother to make ice-cream 
and cake, and you little ones 
can pass it, and we ’ll make 
a present to him.” 

“ What ’ll be the present?” 
“ A pincushion ! ” said 
Fanny, who could make pin¬ 
cushions, and could n’t make anything else, 
and so seemed to think that a paper of pins 
was all that any reasonable person ought to 
ask for. 



“Ho! said Dicky. “That would s’prise 
him ! I do believe he ’s got sixty-’leven now. 
Give him a owl.” 

“ Pooh on peanut owls! ” cried Fanny 


AND OTHER STORIES 


7 


scornfully. “ His looking-glass had a whole 
string of ’em over the top of it the last time 
I looked at it. Let Dolly tell.” 

Dolly stammered so that she never could 
“tell” anything unless you did “let” her. 
You had to say “ Sh-h-h ! ” and stop every¬ 
body talking, and then wait till she could get 
it out. 

“ I — I — I — sh’d sink ’oo better have our 
pickshures tooken ! ’At would be m-m-m- 
more better! ” 

“You bright little Dolly Dump!” cried 
both the other children. “That’s just what 
we will do! There’s money enough in all 
our banks, I guess, to pay the picture-mam 
Let’s go see ! ’’ 

“ ’At ought to be enough to pay for a 
grown-up man’s pickshures! ” said Dolly, 
shaking her bank till the eight or ten pennies 
in it rattled like a rich man’s pocket. “The 
idea of asking all that for a little children’s 
pickshure ! ’Course there ’ll be enough ! ” 

The others laughed, but they thought very 
much as she did, on the whole. At least, 


8 PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 

they were sure their three banks all put to¬ 
gether might buy them a picture. So they 
started. 

The photographer lived in a tall brick 
building, and you had to go to the top in an 
elevator — which was easy enough if it had 
not been for the elevator boy. This boy was 
very sharp and stern with people if they did 
not hurry in or hurry out the instant the 
door opened. Dolly especially hated to hear 
him say, “ Hi, there ! ” and “ Look sharp ! ” 
but never “ hied ” or “ looked ” a bit more for 
his saying it. They all liked to wait and drag 
along on purpose to plague him. It is apt 
to be the way the world over. Sweet words 
win favors. 

“ A picture, my dears ? ” said the kind 
photographer cheerfully. “ Why, I don’t 
know why not! For your papa, who is in 
Turkey ? Oh, he is n’t in Turkey now ? But 
he is going to be. I see ; and you are want- 
ing to give him a nice picture to carry back 
with him. Sit right down here. I ’ll do the 
best I can for you and your father.” 


AND OTHER STORIES 


9 


First Fanny sat down. Don’t you know 
what a long face a horse has ? Well, Fanny's 
was long like that! She wanted to be so 
very nice that she 
wouldn’t let her 
mouth-corners curl up 
into a single dimple. 

Then Dicky tried. 

He stuck his lips out 
till they looked as if a 
bumblebee had stung 
them. And his eyes 
were cracks. 

When it came 
Dolly’s turn, the man 
behind the camera 
began to grow nervous. You might just as 
well have tried to get a picture of a jumping/ 
green grasshopper or a yellow butterfly or 
any of those things. There was n’t a hair of 
her head that was n’t dancing like a dandelion 
in the wind. 

All at once the people out in the waiting 
room heard the most dreadful wail that ever 



FANNY 







IO 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 



went up from three disappointed children. I 
should have said two, because, really, Dicky 
did n’t cry much, being a boy, 
but I must own that even 
he gave a sob or two. It 
was so dreadful! To think 
of being so “ hard to take,” 
that even the photographer 
gave them up ! And he had tried over and 
over again, always with the same 
horrible “ negative ” to show them, 
and the discouraging advice to “ look 
pleasanter.” As if any¬ 
body could look pleasant 
over having his 
picture taken ! 

When Dicky 
saw Dolly’s tears 
and Fanny’s and 
heard their poor 
little sobs, he felt so 
sorry for them that 
he forgot how bad he felt himself. 

“ Don’t cry, sis! ” he begged, pulling out 



AND OTHER STORIES I I 

the grimiest handkerchief that ever cleaned 
slates and held “ hoppy-toads,” to wipe her 
tears away. “ Don’t cry, baby ! We can’t 
have ‘ pickshures,’ but we ’ll have something. 



It would make him feel badder to hear you 
cry than anything, so don’t any more. 
There! put your head on my shoulder, Dolly, 
and le”s think what we’ll give him. Say, 
let’s have cats ! We’ve got a lot, and don’t 





























12 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


you believe he’d like one apiece ? We ’ll 
let ’em jump right on his bed when he wakes 
up in the morning. Don’t you know when 
they jumped into Dolly’s crib — three regular 
mousers ? ” 

That was fun, and Dicky said it on purpose 
to make them laugh, for their father hated 
cats-. Dolly just giggled right out and 
showed both her two dimples at the very 
word “ cats.” 

And right then and there something hap¬ 
pened. That photographer knew his busi¬ 
ness. He saw all at once what a lovely 
“ group ” it made, such as any man might be 
proud of and happy for, especially if he was 
going thousands of miles away to leave three 
such dear little children, and wanted to feel 
sure that they would love each other, and the 
little sisters would have a kind, manly brother 
to look to. Dolly had her curly head on his 
shoulder, and her face was sweet and funny 
as she looked up into his eyes : while his arm 
was round Fanny’s neck, and her face was 
pleasant and not too solemn. As for Dicky’s, 


AND OTHER STORIES 


13 


it was just what a boy ought to look like 
when he has girls to take care of. 

“There!”' said the photographer, coming 
out from his camera and smiling at them. 
“ You come again day after to-morrow, and 
maybe I ’ll have something to show you ! ” 

Ah ! what a nice thing he had to show 
them ! Their papa said it was the prettiest 
present he ever had in his life, and he said 
the man must be a genius who ever took 
such pictures. But the photographer said 
no. He saw that they were children who 
loved one another, and he just waited till he 
caught them at it. 



l 4 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 


KATYAS PRESENT 



in the old barn the 
hens were making 
a dreadful chorus. 
They must have 
been laying eggs 
for market, and 


proud of the fact that 
they brought their mis¬ 
tress money. Little 
Katy Henderson was 
their mistress. 

Across the yard at Mrs. Hender¬ 
son’s back door the grocer man was standing, 
taking orders. Katy could hear their voices 
floating up the ladder as she stood on the 
lower rounds, just starting to go up in the 
loft and see what was the matter there. 

“Yes, ma’am. Home eggs are twenty-five 
cents a dozen, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. I sup¬ 
pose you Ve got a plenty.” 




AND OTHER STORIES 


15 


“ We keep 
hens, yon 
know,” said 
Katy’s mam¬ 
ma. 

“That’s per- 
fectly awful! ” 
said K a t y, 
climbing high¬ 
er. “ I should 
think you’d 
be ashamed 
of yourself, 
Cropple, sit¬ 
ting there day 
after day, 
weeks at a 
time, and not 
a single egg 
to pay for your 
corn and 
things you get 
three times a 
day, keeping 







16 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 


a lot of old eggs warm ! And nice new eggs 
that you could sell and get your money back 
are twenty-five cents a dozen ! And you a 
missionary hen, and 
ought to do your very 
bestest! ” 

“What’s the mat¬ 
ter, Katy-did ? ” 

Up the ladder be¬ 
hind her ran Uncle 
George like a two- 
legged cat, and his 
arms kept her from 
falling as she cried 
“ Ow ! ” and turned in 
a fright to look at him. 
“ What you after ? ” 

“ Going to throw 
old Cropple’s eggs 
out and set her to 
work! ” said Katy 
promptly. “ She’s been lazy long enough.” 

“ Oh, you are ! ” said Uncle George. “ See 
what you see first.” 











AND OTHER STORIES 


17 


They were at the top of the ladder, and, oh, 
what a sight! Don’t you think Cropple had 
been minding her business pretty well, after 
all ? And don’t you think Katy had a pretty 
present to give when she got the money for 
all those little chickabiddies ? 




i8 


PAPA'S BIR1IIDAY 


PAPA SAID SO 


ELLY was going on a 
sleigh-ride. Not Mon¬ 
day, for it blew snow¬ 
flakes like hen feath¬ 
ers. Not Tuesday; 
the snow “ turned to 
rain,” and what a 
dreary drizzle! 
Wednesday it hailed, 
till you would have thought the clouds were 
full of pea-shooters ; there was no going that 
day. And Thursday it snowed again. 

“Of all the kinds of weather!” said Mary 
the maid, looking out at the clothes-line all 
full of Monday’s washing. “ I’m fair dis¬ 
couraged.” 

“ So’m I — most! ” said Nelly. “ But just 
not quite, you know, for I’m a-going.” 

“ Going to what ? ” asked Mary. 










AND OTHER STORIES 


19 


“ My sleigh-ride,” said Nelly. 

“ Your sleigh-ride ! Your papa is going to 
New York, and won’t be back for a fortnight, 
and the snow will all be gone by that. 
You’d better not count on any more sleigh- 
rides this year.” 

Nelly looked sober. She had been count¬ 
ing for four whole days. And maybe Mary 
was right about that going to New York. 
For all that, papa said so! She was n’t 
going to worry. 

“Where’s my Nelly Bly? 
voice in the doorway. 

“ Oh, papa, here I am! 
away off?” cried Nelly. 

“ Get your things on, 
chickabiddy. There’s just 
time for a gay little sleigh- 
ride up the avenue and out 
on the boulevard on my way 
to the train. The snow came 
just a-purpose, so I could keep my promise.” 

Was n’t Nelly glad she had trusted instead 
of worrying ! It’s the best way always. 


called a bright 
Are you going 



20 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 


GOD'S BELL 


1 HEN Elsie was 
a very little 
girl she heard the 
church bells calling, 
and asked what they 
were. “ Ting-a-ling ! ” 
she said, with a funny 
listening look on her 
face. “’Cool to-day? 
Tate a book an’ do to ’cool ? ” 
Mamma laughed and patted the 
bright little head. 

“ No, not school to-day. This is God’s 
day. And that is God’s bell. It says, ‘ Come 
to church ! ’ ” 

One day some people came to the house 
whom mamma was very glad to see. They 
used to live in her old home, and they had 
so many things to talk about that they stayed 





AND OTHER STORIES 


2 I 


up ever so late, — till almost morning. You 
know how sleepy that makes you feel next 
morning. 

Now the next morning was Sunday. That 
was a pity, for it is a shame to use up 
God’s beautiful day 
for lazy resting that 
you might have done 
just as well some other 
day. All at once in 
her still, dusky room, 
among the pillows, 
dear Aunt A b b i e 
heard a soft purring 
noise, like a little 
kitty nestling down 
beside her, and a soft 
fluttering noise like a 
bird trying its wings over her pillow, and 
then the sweetest little voice : — 

“ Det up! det up, Aunt Abbie! Don’t 
you hear Dod’s bell a-winging? It says, 
‘ Come! come ! ’ and you has to mind when 
Dod wings bells at you ! ” 





22 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 



That was how Aunt Abbie got waked up 
early enough to get her church things on in 
time to hear the sermon. 

* 






AND OTHER STORIES 


2 3 


A GOOD DOGGIE 



ASCAL is not a handsome 
dog. But, as everybody 
knows, beauty is only one 
good point in a person. 
I must tell you why we 
all thought so much 
of Rascal, in spite of 
his name, which was 
given to him before 
we found out what a fine fellow he was. 

There was a baby in our house, one of the 
dearest little tots that ever toddled round on 
two feet. Her name was Florence, but she 
could n’t say that, and always called herself 
“ Folly.” Was n’t that a funny name ? 

Close by the fence at the end of the field 
where our house was lay a long, shining rail¬ 
road track. It came from nobody knew 
where (at least you could n’t see where it 



24 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


started from), and it ran on and on, clear to 
the world’s edge, Folly thought. She often 
went and looked through the pickets of the 
fence and wished she could go and see just 
where it led to. 

Rascal kept a sharp brown eye on her. 
That was not exactly his business. Folly’s 
father got him to 
run after sheep 
and bark at stray 
cattle and snap at 
tramps and do all 
such outdoor 
work. They never thought of leaving him 
to watch the baby. But one day (this was 
when Folly was quite little) her mother had 
put her in the very back end of the long 
entry, and thought she could n’t crawl to the 
open door, and she had never walked a step. 
All at once she did creep over the very sill. 
The next instant she would have fallen on her 
nose. 

But just then Rascal caught her by the 
back of her little dress, and tugged and 



AND OTHER STORIES 


25 


pulled till he dragged her safely back, and 
made her mother look up and see the danger. 
After that he was given the care of the baby. 








26 


PAPAS BIRTHDAY 


AN EASTER CARD 


E VERYBODY was climbing up the path 
to the church on the hillside. So 
Huldah thought she would go too. 

It was a cold, chilly 
morning, and the baby 
ferns shivered, for it was 
only April yet, and 
Sister May and Mother 
June had not come to 
shine down warm smiles 
on their fair little faces. 
Huldah looked along 
the path for blue-eyed 
violets, but even her 
sharp eyes spied only 
two, which she held fast 
in her hand that kept 
the little Sunday-school 
card shut safe, where her teacher had slipped 




AND OTHER STORIES 


27 


it at the end of the lesson. It was a pretty 
little card with lilies and roses, and some 
sweet little Bible words on it about Jesus. 

The people were going slowly, foy their 
hearts were sad, and some of them were cry- v 
ing. There was a little white box, and they 
told Huldah there was a baby in it, a baby 
that would not speak or move or smile any 
more. That was why the mother cried and 
the father walked sad and silently. 

As they were coming down the path again, 
Huldah found herself close to the pale little 
mother, so close that even under her veil she 
could still see how she was crying. 

“ Oh,” said Huldah, “ I’m so sorry! ” 

The mother looked down. When you are 
sad, it is something to have a loving voice 
say even that. 

Huldah did not know any more to say. It 
was just as well. There wasn’t anything 
more worth saying. 

But the next minute she crept close and 
tucked her little warm hand, with the card in 
it, up under the long black shawl. When 


28 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 




she took it away, the hand was empty. She 
had given her pretty Easter card by way of 
comfort. 

That night the little card fell out of the 
folds of the shawl and the mother picked it 
up and kissed it. 

“ Oh,” she said, “ I thought I had lost you ! 
You dear little comforter!” And then she 
read again the words printed in gold letters : 
“ Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, 
and the life.” 

“ I am so glad ! ” she said softly, with an¬ 
other kiss on the dear gold letters. “ I came 
near forgetting about Jesus ! The little card 
reminds me. It is a little golden promise. 
My baby is n’t dead, but alive in heaven with 
Jesus.” 


AND OTHER STORIES 


2 9 


LITTLE GRANDMOTHER 


G RANDMOTHER sits in her easy chair. 

(The chair is too big, or she is too small, 
For, though she spreads out her silken skirts, 
She does n’t fill up the chair at all.) 

Grandmother’s eyes are very bright: 

Over her spectacles’ silver rim 
They sparkle like fireflies all a-light; 

Seventy years have n’t made them dim. 

Grandmother’s cheek is apple-pink; 

There are twinkling dimples in cheek and 
chin; 

Did you ever — I know you never 

Saw such an old face with such dimples in. 

Grandmother's hair is crinkled gold; 

The high comb bends with its sliding 
weight, 

Tucked demurely in with plait and fold 
Under the grandmotherly cap of state. 


30 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


And, O grandmother ! what scarlet lips ! 

Ripe and sweet as the reddest here! 
What did you say ? — I did n’t catch — 

“ The better to kiss you with , my dear ! ” 

Fie ! little grandmother, fairly caught! 

That voice never saw “ seventy year.” 
And I’m the wolf that will carry you off, 
And eat you up in my den, my .dear! 



AND OTHER STORIES 


31 


A SECRET 


HERE is n’t any great 
much of a noise ’at / can 
see! ” muttered Ninny 
naughtily when Berta 
came in with the night¬ 
gowns. “ You needunt 
keep a-shooing us ! ” 

“ Oh, sh ! sh! ” said Berta 
in a distressed whisper, 
like a big blue fly in a 
bottle, “ do sh ! I’m all 
ex-tracted with your rack- 
. eting and I know mother 
must be. Papa asked me 
to take the ’sponsibility of you, but if you 
wont sh ” — 

“ Don’t you, Arthur ! ” said Ninny, perch¬ 
ing on the bedpost like a little sprite. 
“Let’s racket and racket and have a — cir¬ 
cus ! ” 






3 2 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


“ What’s a circus ?” said Arthur, jumping 
onto the bed like “ my son John,” with “one 
stocking off and one stocking on.” 

“ Oh, don’t you know any somesing at all ? 
P’al bars and handsprings,” said Ninny, 
illustrating, “ and over-novers and somersets. 

Like what Donny does in 
college. At the Gym. I 
know re-zactly where he 
keeps his tumbles .” 

Ninny meant dumb-bells, 
and in a minute she was 
back with them, and the . 
circus began. 

Berta flung down the 
nightgowns in despair and 
ran, half crying, to papa. He 
was out in the kitchen, warming a queer little 
embroidered blanket at the fire and scorching 
a queer little burned place right in the middle. 

“ O papa! ” cried Berta, “ I truly tried to 
take the ’sponsibility of ’em, but Arthur won’t 
mind me, and Ninny’s playing circus and 
Clifton's run away, and won’t you be the 







AND OTHER STORIES 


33 


mother to the whole of us ? ” she finished, 
diving her dismayed little head into his coat¬ 
tails, as if to find there motherly refuge. 

“ Bless my seventeen senses! ” cried papa, 
discovering the burned place by the help of 
one of them, “ I ’ll be more ’n a mother to 
you! Go and tell 



them I ’ll appear to 
them in a minute and 


if they are n’t still as 
mice they never ’ll S 
squeak again. Do 


your best, Little 
Blessed ! ” he added, 
giving her a kiss “ on 
the wing ” as he 


passed her. “ I can’t ' 

come just yet.” 

“Papa, can I tell them?” asked Berta, 
stopping. 

“ Ye-es! ” said papa, looking back. “ Per¬ 
haps that will keep them quiet. Only they 
must n’t come in to-night.” 

Berta went back to the circus. 








34 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 


“ I know a terrible funny secret,” she said, 
sitting down on the foot of the cot-bed. 

“ Peanuts,” said Ninny, hanging by her 
toes from the bed-rail. 

“ Candy in your por-ket,” drawled Arthur, 
with what breath he had to spare from the 
business of making “ cart wheels.” 

“ Nonsense, no! ” said Berta. “ You can’t 
guess, but the one that undresses first and 
don’t speak a speck, a mite, I ’ll tell it over 
here in the corner.” 

“ O-o-o-o-no ! ” they groaned in chorus. 
“ We’d rather guess all together.” 

“ Well,” said Berta, pouncing on Cliftie, 
who appeared at this minute, “we’ll have a 
game of Twenty Questions.” 

“ Is it something for us ? ” said Arthur. 

“ Yes,” said Berta, “ it’s mamma’s present 
to us all. One.” 

* 

“ Oh ! oh ! Is it alive ? ” 

“ Yes. Two.” 

“ Is it made of cloff ? ” asked Cliftie, squirm¬ 
ing in Berta’s lap. 

“ Oh, yes, — no, — I don’t know,” laughed 


AND OTHER STORIES 


35 


Berta, squeezing him. “ It was mostly cloth 
and flannel I saw, but I guess you could n’t 
say it was made of cloth.” 

“ Is it sweet ? ” demanded Ninny. 

“Yes,” said Berta emphatically. “As 
honey.” 

“What’s the kind of color of it?” said 
Arthur. 

“ Oh, red and white and blue 
and black,” laughed Berta. 

“ It’s no fairs ! ” cried Arthur. 

“ I won’t guess.” 

“ Don’t scream and kick your 
heels ! ” begged Berta. “ I ’ll 
tell you now, right off; only tell 
me first what you ’ll do with it.” 

“ Oh,” said Ninny, “ I ’ll put 
it in a little white box, and 
cackleumny pictures all over it, 
and I won’t look at it but only birthdays and 
Fourth of Julys.” 

“ And what will you f ” said Berta, laugh¬ 
ing to think what her “ secret ” was. 

“ I’d bite a little piece off every day — only 



doff?” 


36 PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 

a little piece, so ’s ’t would last a great long 



while,” said Arthur, thinking of candy still. 







AND OTHER STORIES 37 

“Oh, you funny things! Well, what will 
you do, Cliftie ? ” 

Cliftie took his pink toes out of his mouth 
and looked wondrous wise. 

“ Me dive it mamma teep,” he said at last, 
like a wise little baby. 

“That’s the nicest thing in the world,” 
said Berta, with a kiss. “ I guess we ’ll have 
to a little while, anyway. You couldn’t 
guess if you was old as Mrs. Methusa- 
lum. It’s a — little — precious—pink — 
baby! ” 

“ Where — where — let me see! ” cried 
Ninny and Arthur and Cliftie, rushing past 
Berta and down-stairs and across the entry, 
and up to the very door of mamma’s room. 
But there papa caught them, and they had a 
game of the Old Woman that Lived in a Shoe, 
for he “ spanked them all soundly and sent 
them to bed.” 



38 


PAPA'S BIR THDA Y 



WHAT PILOT THOUGHT 



H Y don’t you go to church ? 
Pilot. 


asked 


You understand dog language, don’t you? 
The words are short and sharp, something 
like this : “ Bow-wow-wow ! ” But then it is 














AND OTHER STORIES 39 

very easy to understand when once you are 
a little used to it. 

“ Well, Pilot, you wouldn’t have me leave 
this dear little baby, would you ?” 

“Why not let me take care of it?” said 
Pilot, looking at it kindly out of his big brown 
eyes. “ You trust me with almost every¬ 
thing. My master takes me to his store and 
leaves me all night guarding the place like a 
policeman. And you never lost anything 
yet.” 

“Yes, you good, splendid fellow. But a 
baby is different.” 

“ I don’t see why,” thought Pilot. He did 
not say this out loud, for he was more polite 
than some children I know, and did not go on 
talking after he was answered. But his mis¬ 
tress knew by the wag of his tail that there 
were thoughts in his mind, if he had seen fit 
to speak them out like other people. 

“ You see, Pilot,” she went on, looking 
down tenderly at the little sleepy bundle, 
“ these little babies are so precious because 
we know what they will grow to. Even if 


40 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


anybody should break into the shop and steal 
a whole case of jewels or a storeful of watches, 
it would only be some money lost, and some 
more could be earned to replace it; but a little 
life like this — with a little soul in it! — noth¬ 
ing could make up for losing it. And that is 
why we are so careful, good Pilot. We have 
to be teaching them and loving them and 
living for them all the time, and you could n’t 
do that, trusty as you are.” 

“ I wonder if they ever do get lost,” thought 
Pilot. His eyes looked so sad you might 
have felt sure that was what he was thinking. 





AND OTHER STORIES 


4 1 


AN OUTDOOR SCHOOLROOM 


-0-0-0 H, mamma ! ” 

You would have 
thought that little Susie 
Deane had the tooth¬ 
ache, but it was not 
that at all that she 
was groaning about. 
Her dear mother 
had asked her if it 
would n’t be a good 
plan to spend part 
of her sunny Satur¬ 
day afternoon study¬ 
ing her Sunday-school lesson. That was all. 

“This beau-x\iu\ weather!” fretted Susie, 
as if she thought people ought to order some 
special bad or cloudy weather for lessons if 
they must be studied at all. “To be shut up 
in a horrid room when there is all outdoors 
to stay in'! ” 




42 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 


“ The lessons need not hinder,” said 
mamma. “ I don’t let my housework keep 
me indoors very much. Everything that I 
can do outdoors I do there.” 

“Is that the reason you pare apples on the 
piazza and mend the stockings out under 
the elm ? ” asked Susie with sudden interest. 
“ And you mean that I could do my lessons 
that way ? ” 



Mamma nodded and reached the little 
girl’s hat to her, but Susie cared no more for 
hats than you do, and it was n’t half a minute 
before she had scampered out to the shady 
spot under the big trees. Does it give you 
any hint about your lessons ? 




AND OTHER STORIES 


43 


I wish I could make you all believe that 
there is no commandment against making 
study pleasant, if you like to. I know one 
little high-school girl who learned a great 
long string of Latin verbs (and dreadful 
things they are, too, as you will find out some 
time) by singing them over to the baby while 
she rocked her to sleep so as to let mamma 
get the dinner. They made a very nice- 
sounding lullaby, and the baby liked it as 
well as if it had been “ Hush, my dear,” or 
“There was an old woman.” And by the 
time the little warm armful was ready to cud¬ 
dle down in her crib for her noonday nap, 
the dinner was ready and the lesson was 
learned, and there was a whole long after¬ 
noon to play in. 




44 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


WHAT WAS LILY'S IDOL? 



ILY had been to a missionary 
meeting with her mamma, and 
when she came home her 
little tongue could not 
chatter fast 
enough to tell 
all she had 
seen and 
heard. 

“ Why, there 
was a missionary 
lady there and 
she had some 
little idols in a bag, and she 
took them out and showed 
them to us. Some of them were only about 
so long and they were not dollies either, for 
they were too homely for dollies, but she said 
the little boys and girls where they came from 





AND OTHER STORIES 


45 


used to kiss them forty times a day and say 
prayers to them and hand them presents. 
They were little gods, idol-gods, you know.” 

“ Why did n’t they pray to the true God ?” 
asked mamma. 

“ Oh, they did n’t know about him,” said 
Lily. “ If they had, you don’t suppose they 
would do such silly things, do you ? But 
she says some of them do begin to learn 
about the ‘ Jesus-god,’ as they call him. 
They come to the school and they learn to 
read in the Bible, and by and by they have 
to begin to think which they will pray to, 
these little ugly dolls or the good God in 
heaven. And then they have to say which 
they will mind and which they will care about 
most, and it ends in making them all over. 
They have to stop being heathens and be 
little Christian boys and girls.” 

“ Well done! ” said big brother Ben, 
coming in just in time to hear Lily’s last 
words and guess at all the rest of.it. “I 
shall vote for my little sister to go to all the 
missionary meetings if she comes home with 



“ Um ! um ! ” said Ben provokingly. “ Per¬ 
haps it was n’t you that I heard my father 
saying a verse to this morning — a verse 
right out of the Bible. ‘ Little children, 
keep yourself from idols.’ You were stand- 


PA PA'S BIRTHDAY 


such a good report as that every time. But 
what did she say to you about your idols ? ” 

“ I don’t have any idols! ” said Lily. “ The 
idea! I would n’t do such a thing! ” 



AND OTHER STORIES 


47 


ing in front of the bureau, as I remember, 
admiring the shape of your sweet little nose 
or teeth or something.” 

“ Mamma! ” cried Lily hotly, with real 
tears in her eyes, “do I ‘ bow down to idols ’ ? 
Isn’t Ben a horrid old tease? Say he’s an 
old fibber, mamma.” 

“ Well,” said mamma, smiling, “ I do think 
he is a bit of a tease, but an idol is some¬ 
thing that you put in place of God, or love 
better than you do God, and would do more 
for. Some people make an idol of their 
money. Some boys and girls seem to make 
an idol of their play and of good things to 
eat, and missionary pennies go to buy pres¬ 
ents for their own dear mouths and pockets. 
You will have to think Ben’s words over and 
make up your own mind about your idol.” 

As she went up-stairs Ben called after 
her: — 

“ Go look in the glass, Lil, and you ’ll see 


it! 


48 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


FAITHFUL ELLIE 



VERY night 
in the little 
window that 
looked sea¬ 
ward little Ellie 
put a lamp or 
lighted candle. 
“ Father will see 
it,” she said, “ and 
he ’ll know I’m 
watching.” 

It was such a cheerful little thing 
to do. Not that he needed it out there 
in the boat, for he knew every rock and 
turn of the coast; and when the fogs grew 
thick, or the night came down early, he al¬ 
ways started early, too. The lighthouse lamp 
would have been enough to steer by, but 
little Ellie lighted her candle just the same. 

“ I like to think you ’re expecting it! ” she 
said, kissing him. 



AND OTHER STORIES 


49 


So it came to be Elbe’s work and task or 
duty, and nobody interfered with her. Mother 
lighted the other lamps, but never Elbe’s can¬ 
dle. It was in her own window in her own 
little room, that was up higher than the 
others, so that it would show farther. 



One night Elbe was very sick. When 
father looked at her red cheeks and glassy 
eyes in the morning he said: “ I ’ll stop on 
the way and send over the doctor, mother! ” 







50 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


And mother was very glad, for Ellie was 
growing worse every minute. All day she 
tossed and moaned, and by night she talked 
so wildly that they knew she did not under¬ 
stand the words she was saying. But by and 
by she fell asleep, and what do you think she 
did in that troubled fever sleep, getting out 
of bed to do it ? She went, as on every other 
night, and lighted “ fathers candle.” She did 
not know that she had done it, and after she 
got well she never could remember. Father 
said he was glad to have her in such a habit 
of being faithful that, awake or asleep, she 
would do what she thought was her duty. 



AND OTHER STORIES 


51 


A PLAN FOR NEXT SUMMER 


SHOULD think it was s 
early enough to plan 
for next summer! ” 

“ Just about! ” said 
Rob good-naturedly. 
“ I tell you what, 
Jimmy, I ’m going to 
have some fun this 
summer! ” 

“Earn a lot o’ 
money ? ” 

“Not that way. I’ve 
got some money ; been saving it. I’m going 
to have a missionary lemonade stand.” 

“ A missionary what ?” said Jimmy. 

“ It’s for little chaps that don’t have any 
money. Not for you — ’less you pay for it! 
You always have lemonade enough same’s 
I do. But down back of the schoolhouse 
there’s a spot big enough to put my tent on 




52 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


that father got me last summer. And he says 
he will get me leave to put it up there, and 
I can buy lemons and ice as long as my money 
holds out and let the babies in the primary 
room have it free. They get just as thirsty 
as we big fellows.” 

“ Some of ’em 
have money.” 

“ Well, I’ll tell 
them to give it to 
me to buy more 
lemons. I’m 
going to give you 
all a chance to 
help.” 

“ Say, Rob, I’d 
charge some¬ 
thing. Ten pins 
a glass, say. 
They’d feel better and it wouldn’t seem so 
much like begging.” 

“ So I will ! ” said Rob heartily. “ I forgot 
about their feelings.” 



AND OTHER STORIES 


53 


HALF-WAY HARRY 



NCE there was a boy 
who had a great many 
good thoughts in his 
mind, but they never 
grew up into actions. 
As he grew older, 
the boys called 
him ‘Hal f-w a y 
Harry.’ ” 

“ Was — was he 
a bad boy, Uncle 
John?” 

“No-o-o. About half-way good. If 
things were easy, he would rather do right, 
but very often a fellow needed to be pretty 
brave, you see, and such times were too much 
for a boy of that stamp. He could n’t stand 
up against temptation — went down like a 
row of paper soldiers when you fire a marble 
at them.” 



54 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


Harry’s face was pretty red, but still he 
was n’t sure that Uncle John meant anybody. 
It might be a story out of a book or some¬ 
thing. 

“ One day the other boys planned a Sun¬ 
day sail together, and they never thought of 
leaving Harry out till 
he knew all about it. 

“ ‘ I don’t know 
about that,’ said 
Harry. You see he 
had been well brought 
up, if he was n’t an 
out-and-out Chris¬ 
tian, and he knew better than to enter into 
any such path of the wicked. 

‘“You don’t know about that?’ sneered 
the other boys angrily. 

“ ‘ Pretty time o’ day to tell us now, when 
you’ve been let into the whole secret! ’ 
growled one or two, doubling their fists up. 

“To make a long story short, Harry gave 
in, as he always did, and did n’t break up the 
$ail as he ought to have done. He would n’t 








AND OTHER STORIES 


55 


go with them — but he would n’t stay away 
either. Promised to go to the little wharf 
under the willows and see them off and ” — 

“ Uncle John ! ” cried Harry with cheeks of 
fire. “ How did you know ? Where did you 
hear ? ” 

“ Oh, I got to thinking of him, reading 
over a Bible story about Caleb, who ‘ wholly 
followed the Lord.’ Harry was n’t that kind.” 

“ Uncle John ! ” cried Harry again, spring¬ 
ing up with clenched fists. “ I will be that 
kind! And I won’t go to the wharf to-mor¬ 
row morning — see if I do ! ” 

And he did n’t. He says he means to earn 
a better name than Half-way Harry. 


56 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 


BENNY'S BATTLEFIELD 


OBODY ever saw it, 
not even Benny him¬ 
self. God and good 
angels can see into a 
little boy’s heart when 
he is trying to do the 
right and fight the 
wrong; but other eyes 
are all shut out. They 
can only tell by the actions afterward. 

You see it was this way. There were three 
boys in the Ballard family, and Benny was 
the oldest. That meant that he had the care 
of the other two whenever they were all out 
of mother’s sight together. Mother trusted 
him ; she never thought of such a thing as 
Benny’s not being faithful. “ Day before 
yesterday,” as Benny said, “ he would not 
have thought of it himself.” But temptations 













AND OTHER STORIES 


57 


swoop down on you sometimes like a hawk 
out of the sky, and you know how poor little 
chickens have to scurry then to get under 
their mothers wings. 



Mother won't let ye ! ” 


“ Come out and have a swim, Benny,” 
called Jimmy Waters, down by the willow 
tree. “ All the fellows are going.” 

“ I guess I can’t,” said Benny faintly. 

“ Mother won’t let ye! ” sneered Jimmy. 





58 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


That was just the reason Benny could n*t. 
Strange to say, his mother was afraid of the 
water, and did n’t like to have the children 
go near it. 

“ Well, I suppose she would be scared out 
of her wits if she knew I took all the young¬ 
sters off to the river.” 

Benny always spoke of the two little boys 
as “youngsters.” It sounded so big and 
grown-up—just the way Uncle Jack talked 
about him. 

“ Who wants ’em all tagging! ” burst out 
Jimmy. “ Set ’em down playing somewhere, 
and you come along! ” 

As I told you, nobody saw any battlefield. 
But there was one. Benny walked off to the 
other side of the willow tree for a minute or 
two, and Jimmy laughed to himself to think 
“ how easy he got him this time ! ” Mistaken 
Jimmy! 

All at once there was-a ringing “ No, sir ! ” 
from the other side of that tree. Benny’s 
side had gained a victory. Those children 
weren’t going to be set down anywhere, 


AND OTHER STORIES 


59 


while he went off alone with the other fellows 
and had a good time — and despising himself 
every minute because he had turned out to be 
a boy that could n’t be trusted! And he a 
Junior Christian Endeavorer! 

Jimmy went his ways. As for Benny, he 
called cheerily to the children, and they 
marched down to the pasture land and had 
the best time they ever had in their lives. 
What doing ? Oh, you boys know what you 
do when you go off for fun together. They 
played and raced and made all the noise they 
wanted to; and Benny’s well of gladness 
bubbled clear way up from the bottom of his 
heart because he had conquered himself and 
had n’t been selfish. 





6o 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


MAMMA'S SOLDIER BOY 



ARRY loved to go up in 
the attic and hunt around 


among the cobwebs. 
There were so many beau¬ 
tiful things to be found 
there if you were n’t a girl 
and did n’t mind the spiders. 


One day he came down dragging an old 
blue soldier coat,, its bright buttons all dull 
and its bright color spotted and faded. 
There was a cap of blue, and it came down 
over Harry’s ears when he put it on ; and 
there were other things in the dusty old 
trunk where he found them, but he could not 
bring them all. 

“ Why, Harry ! ” cried grandma. 

“ Does you care?” he asked, dropping the 
heavy coat in a dusty heap in the middle of 
the floor. “ I fought you’d let me have zem 
for playsings! ” 




AND OTHER STORIES 


61 


“ Not those ! ” said grandma tearfully. 

“ Vey looks like play sings ! ” said Harry. 
“ I should like to be a soldier boy! ” 

“ I ’ll tell you what I ’ll do,” said grandma, 
picking up the dear old blue coat that she 
loved for the sake of the one who had worn 
it ; “we will go and put these carefully away 
again, and I will get some pretty blue cloth 
and some bright buttons and make a soldier 
boy of you, if you will promise to be a good, 
true, brave one, like the man that wore all 
these! ” - 

“ Oh, yes ! I ’ll be bwave and twoo ! ” 
promised Harry. 



62 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 



NELLIE'S PRAYER 


Down by the willow 
tree there was a 
great noise of scold¬ 
ing and crying. Two 
little girls were stop¬ 
ping there on their way 
home from school, and 
they began to talk about 
some little reward cards 
that the teacher had 
given them. 

“ That one’s mine ! ” 
said Nellie ; “ the one with the doves and lilies 
on it/’ 



and other stories 


63 


“ No, it is n’t! ” said Evy, snatching it. 
“Yours had ‘ Perfect’ on, and not any lilies. 
I won’t let you have it. It’s mine, I say! ” 

So they squabbled, and all at once naughty 
Evy snatched the pretty card, which was not 
really hers at all (and I am afraid she knew 
it wasn’t), and tore it into inch bits, and 
pounded poor Nellie over the head with a 
little tin dipper she had, and went running 
off up the lane that led home from the willow 
tree. 

“ I ’ll never, never, never , never, NEVER 
forgive such a wicked girl! ” cried Nellie, 
looking after her with white face and dry 
eyes. She was “ too mad to cry,” she told 
her mother. Of course mother bathed her 
head and kissed the bump and felt sorry, but 
she told her to forget it and not spoil her 
mind with ugly thoughts. That would be 
worse than a bumped head and a torn picture 
card. 

Nellie hardly heard her say it. She hated 
Evy. She thought how she would always 
hate her, all the long, long time they were 


6 4 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


growing up, when she was a woman like her 
mother, and a whole worldful of things to do 
for everybody; when she was an old, old lady 
like her grandmother, and nothing to do for 
anybody but knit mittens for ’em and love 
’em. In that far-off time she still meant to: 

hate that wicked, bad Evy.'^ 
“You got into bed 
without saying your 
prayer, child ! ” said 
mamma at bedtime. 

Nellie mumbled some 
kind of an answer, but 
didn’t offer to get out 
again. 

“ Hop right out, dear. 
You don’t want to get 
into a way of saying your 
prayers in bed. It’s a 
lazy, shiftless habit.” 

“It’s cold ! ” said Nellie 
snappily. She did n’t feel 
like saying her prayers in bed or out of it. 

“ And my throat aches.” 





AND OTHER STORIES 


65 


So it did, but with a lump that no cold- 
water “packing” or sore-throat medicine 
would cure. Her mother looked frightened, 
not knowing what the matter was, and went 
straight to the under bureau drawer for a 
strip of flannel. 

“ There! ” she said, when Nellie was all 
done up and taken care of, “ now you can 
say your prayers in bed if you want to; kneel 
right down by me. I do hope you are n’t 
going to come down with diphtheria. ‘ Our 
Father ’ ” — 

Nellie began, since there was no help for 
it. How bad mamma would have felt if she 
had dreamed that her little girl did n’t want 
to pray! 

All at once she stopped. The next words 
were “ and forgive us our debts, as ” — How 
could she bear to go on with the rest of that 
sentence ? Did she want to ask God to hate 
her and go on hating her till she was an old 
woman, the way she meant to hate Evy? 
Did she — no, she could n’t say that. 

“ My throat aches ! ” she sobbed, just as if 


66 


PAPA'S BIRTHDAY 


she had been a little baby, and mamma 
wrapped her up and let her lie down, saying 
that she guessed God knew the rest of what 
she was going to say if she did n’t say it. 
That was dreadful! 



Two or three times in the night Nellie 
tried to say the rest of that prayer. But 
every time she stopped at “ and forgive us.” 
She could n’t say it and mean it. 























AND OTHER STORIES 


67 


All at once mamma waked suddenly, about 
twelve o’clock at night, and looked through 
the glass door that led from her room into 
Nellie’s. What was she doing out of bed that 
way, kneeling there in her white nightgown, 
and nothing around her shoulders ? Mamma 
sprang out of bed in a fright and went in and 
asked her what she was doing. 

“ I can’t say my prayer, mamma! ” sobbed 
the poor little girl, “ ’cause I can’t help 
hating Evy! ” 

Mamma saw in an instant. You see she 
knew the whole story. 

“ Just forgive her, dear,” she said, smooth¬ 
ing the hot little tumbled head. “ Then you 
can. It’s dreadful not to forgive.” 

“ I know it! ” moaned Nellie, “ but I can’t. 
I dorit forgive her! ” 

“Well, then,” said mamma, “ tell God you 
want to. Tell him you will act as if you did ; 
then he will send the right feeling into your 
heart. You have to act right, if you don’t 
feel right.” 

Two minutes later a tired but happy little 


68 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 


face was resting on its pillow, and mother’s 
kiss on it was not half so good as the sweet 
feeling of peace in her heart, for Nellie had 
taken her mamma’s advice, and she “ felt 
forgiving” the minute she said so. That is 
very apt to be the way. Nellie is a grown¬ 
up woman now, but she always looks back to 
that night and that hard time of saying her 
prayers as the time when she really began to 
be one of God’s children. It was the time 
she gave up her own way and her own will 
and took God’s way. 


AND OTHER STORIES 


69 



BY PALACE-CAR 


N OT to-day, children! Don’t you see 
how it is snowing?” 

Well, of course they did see, for the snow 
was coming down like feathers. But Doll 
and Danny wanted to go outdoors, and they 
pouted their red lips out and were cross to 
their mother. Oh, little children, how bad 
you will feel some day when you have n’t any 




70 


PAPA'S PIP TUBA Y 


mother! Then every sharp, mean word you 
ever said will fill your pillows full of pins and 
needles, and your hearts will never lose the 
ache out. 

Danny happened all at once to think of a 
beautiful play. 

“ Can we have the clothes-basket, mother ? ” 
he asked, turning 
round from the win¬ 
dow. 

“ Certainly, my 
darling!” said 
mother, just as if 
she had n’t heard a 
snap or seen a lip 
stuck out. 

“We’ll have a 
palace-car, Doll,” said Danny, getting the 
basket. “ Hop in, passengers — or, first show 
your tickets. We ’re going clear to California, 
through express. Chug, chug ! hoo-oo-oo! ” 

“ Oh, what a whistle that train has ! ” said 
mamma, smiling — some people would smile 
if their heads were coming off. 





AND OTHER STORIES 


71 


“Say, Doll!” 

Danny’s voice was low and soft, as if 
mother could hear clear across the continent. 

“ Let’s take the next train back to Boston 
to tell her we ’re sorry ! ” 

So they did. It isn’t very far—in a 
clothes-basket palace-car — from San Fran¬ 
cisco to Boston. 

“ Sorry you were two little crosspatches ?” 
said mamma, smiling with a real, deep heart- 
smile this time that had n’t a hint of head¬ 
ache or heartache in it. “ All right. Now 
take another trip. I’d go to Florida.” 

They must have found a lovely, healthful 
climate down there, for they came back to 
lunch as red as roses and as hungry as two 
young bears. 






72 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 


A LITTLE CHRISTIAN 



D ON’T you just ’spise girls that wear old 
hole-y dresses ? ” said Ellie Gold- 
thwaite out under the swing-birches. Lotty 

Dame was on 
the other side 
of the wall, 
and it was her 
dress that 
was “hole-y.” 
But mean 
little Ellie 
did n’t speak 
a bit more 
softly for 
knowing 
that. She 
was “mad” 
with Lotty. 
“Yes,” said Katie Hathaway, “’n’ her 





AND OTHER STORIES 


73 


father is n’t worth more ’n a hundred dollars, 
anyway. And they live in the worstest old 
house! All the windows pasted up with 
paper or something where the glass is 
broken! And” — 

Just then a face rose up like a little white 
moon the other side of the wall. It stood 
and looked at them a minute, as white and 
still as if it had been a real moon instead of 
a round, girlish face with pretty rings of yel¬ 
low hair on the forehead. But,moons don’t 
let their mouth quiver that way, nor two big 
tears splash down on the stone wall close 
under them. Pretty soon the face took itself 
off and the little girls stopped talking. 

“ It’s a pretty house ! ” sobbed Lotty, run¬ 
ning home as fast as she could to it and her 
mother. “It’s all covered over with roses 
and red trumpet-flowers and syringas and 
lilacs. I love it! And there’s only two or 
three broken windows, and there won’t be 
any as soon as papa gets well of being sick 
so long! Oh, w'ould n’t I like to do some¬ 
thing awful to those bad girls! ” 


74 


PAPA’S BIRTHDAY 


“ Why, my dear little daughter! ” 

It was mother who had overheard that 
last speech, and her face showed what she 
thought about it. 
Lotty just told her 
the whole thing. 

“ Oh, well,” said 
mother, patting her 
hair, “ all you’ve got 
to do is to be a little 
Christian and never 
mind ’em. Take the 
^ baby now and go out 
and get a lot of roses 

« Why, my dear little daughter ^ flowers to carry 

to school to-morrow morning. Yes, yes! to 
those girls and all the others. Don’t make 
any difference. Just you be a sweet little 
Christian, no matter what they are.” 















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